The first time he comes to the surface of the water he gasps for breath, his huge mouth gapes, he gives his head a shake and out tumbles the bait, hooks and all, not one of them having had hold, and away goes pikey quite satisfied with his entertainment pro tem., and wondering what that ugly two-legged moster with the hop pole in his hand, and who looked in such a state of perplexity and stew, had to do with the matter

Like its schoolboy master, the rod built from the cane then chosen has since had many a narrow escape "by flood and fell," and not a few damaged 'tips,' aye, and 'joints' too; but its main timbers are as sound as ever, and I trust may yet be destined to wave death over many a pikey pool and glittering torrent when the hand that chose them is no longer able to do justice to their supple graces.

1965, The Fishing Gazette [New Series] - Issues 4560-4585, page 14:

The Broadland waters are pikey waters. There is no doubt that if Norfolk is famous for any one species of fish, then it is for none other than Esox himself, the predatory pike.

1979, Len Cacutt, British Freshwater Fishes: The Story of Their Evolution, page 98:

The name gar-pike has gone some way to suggest the non-existent relationship, while (two dorsal fins notwithstanding) the pike-perches look remarkably 'pikey'.

(Britain,pejorative,offensive) A working-class (often underclass) person; can vary from specifically Irish Travellers to gypsies or travellers from any ethnic background, but now increasingly used for any socially undesirable person, with negative connotations of benefit fraud, theft, single-parent families and living on run-down estates.

1887, Belgravia - Volume 62, page 416:

Gipsies and the pikey race generally were a class outside Lord Sandbar's previous experience, and he listened greedily.

“They must be the pikeys who live up there. They're a nasty bunch. Shouldn't get mixed up with them.” “Well, we told them to fuck off, they didn't seem that nasty to me! What are pikeys anyway?” “Well, they're like vagabonds.”